Love Tuesday

This morning, my husband took my breath away.

Today, my husband, who had an early flight out of town, got up at 4:00 AM so that he could shovel the driveway before he left.

We knew it was going to snow overnight and I offered to leave my car at the bottom of the driveway but he didn't want me to take any chances walking up and down the hill. (I'm going through a particularly bad pain week --more about that later this week.)

So, he, quietly and without fanfare, got up at 4:00 and shoveled the drive and THEN, to make sure I didn't take any chances, he not only left me HIS car, which has four-wheel-drive, but he also took the trash down.

This is my husband who hates the cold and loves, I mean LOVES, his sleep.

I am just humbled by how good he is to me --by what a genuinely good person he is. My husband has a very big job and many people are depending on him to do big things. Yet he manages to maintain his perfect record when it comes to me: for thirteen years he has thought of everything, large and small, that might make my life easier and better. He is such a good, good man. He inspires me to be a better person --to reach deeper, to stretch, the try to be a better person, too.

I spent all day today trying to pay his kindness forward in my interactions with everyone from my own children to strangers waiting in the pick-up line.

And it is with a wide-open and humbled heart that I watched Barack Obama sworn in as the new President of the United States of America.

You know that I am not a political writer.

And that this is not a political blog.

But I spent quite a few hours watching the inauguration of President Barack Obama today and I felt exactly the same sense of awe and motivation to go forward in a different, better, more steadfast way. To seek something better from myself. To embrace this "moment that defines a generation" and allow it to change me, for the better.

My favorite moment, other than the speech (and excuse me, if you don't think that was a great speech then STOP SMOKING CRACK and read it again) was a small one and there was beauty and power to be found in it. During one moment of the festivities today, before the swearing-in and that momentous (screw the pundits) speech, Mr. Obama was sitting apart from his family, gathering his thoughts. And his wife Michelle, who was occupied in entertaining their two daughters (a task I understand in a very real way,) reached over and rested her hand on his shoulder.

Just that.

Just rested her hand on his shoulder in solidarity and comfort and love. Just as I have done a million times, just as you have done a million times, just as people DO to support and sustain those they love.

There were volumes spoken in that simple gesture. Acknowledgment of the day, of the man, of the enormous job ahead.

Know what I think? I think sometimes the good guys DO win. I think the good guys never lose sight of their goals, their responsibilities, or the needs of the people they love. And I think the good guys can motivate us to change and grow and stretch simply by virtue of their own goodness.

I also think that sometimes the good guys need a few hands extended to them in solidarity and comfort and love. In acknowledgment of the enormous tasks in front of them and the idea that sometimes our belief in them will see them through.

Congratulations, my fellow citizens of the world. I look forward to working with you.

Comments

Annabanana said…
ahhh Barb - I thought I had FINALLY stopped crying out my emotions of the amazement of the inauguration and you got me going all over again. I love that, too, about how the Obama relationship goes. I like thinking about the decisions behind their agreement to move his career forward, and let hers take a back seat for the sake of the family, and the country. I know that struggle, and I admire the way they show that compact they made. Ahh crap, here I go again - you know what I mean, I think, I love your writing and I love *your* family and you, too!
hokgardner said…
Well said. And bravo to Coop.
Mrs.Q said…
I like your husband.

And - as one of the citizens of the rest of the world - I like your new President, too. I think the whole world is a lighter place than it was 2 days ago. Here's hoping...
Anonymous said…
yeah, liked your husband, you are very lucky to have him, this is again one of the best posts on your blog!
Suna Kendall said…
Yeah, you got me all teary-eyed again, too. It's been so long since a good guy won anything in my life, anyway.

And I agree with Mrs Q--I feel lighter--a huge burden of worry has left me.
Miri said…
It's all so humbling. The apparently small gestures that really do add up to a kinder and better personal experience and ultimately a kinder and better world.
Great post, Barb, connecting the very personal to the very national and beyond.

Is this a great country or what? Not that there aren't many other great countries on the globe, but lately I have reason to be very proud of mine.
LaDonna said…
Oh, Barb...I watched all that coverage yesterday from my desk at work (thank you, MSNBC.com!) and held it together. Now, I sit at my desk again this morning reading your blog ABOUT yesterday and I'm a puddle! I'm really hoping one of the 14 guys I work with doesn't come around the corner to ask me a question right now!

And as for Coop, yeah, he's a keeper!
Anonymous said…
I just melted into a puddle under my desk, and there's no Coop here to clean THAT up!
I am so totally in awe of Michelle Obama...and her husband, of course. My favorite moment was the one captured by someone's camera, after the speech, where Michelle and the girls are standing with the President, and Sasha is giving him a thumbs up. Cute beyond words...and just the way the rest of us felt.
MadMad said…
Great post, on so many levels. (Though I'm sorry about the pain!) You know what I kept thinking, though, the whole time? Just what exactly did they bribe those girls with, to get them to behave so well? 'Cuz I could use some new ideas...
Anonymous said…
Nice post.

-FringGirl
Katie said…
What a lovely gesture indeed! And a lovely post to boot.
Unknown said…
just checking in, hope you are not having too bad a pain week. I think of you a lot and send positive thoughts down south
DK said…
Dude. I know. I so totally know.


Damn am I behind in reading your blog....